None of the 10 individuals who broke into the embassy before tying up and beating staff as they looked for information on computers have been caught.

But sources from the investigation told the Spanish newspaper El País that they been able to identify several of the attackers from video evidence.

Although the majority of the assailants who sped away in two of the embassy’s cars before vanishing have been identified as Koreans, two of the group “have been recognised by Spanish secret services as being linked with the CIA”, El País reported on Wednesday.

According to the newspaper, members of the investigation by the National Police and Spain’s CNI secret service contacted the CIA to ask for an explanation of possible US involvement in the break-in. The response, according to Spanish government sources, was “unconvincing”.

North Korea’s most recent ambassador to Spain, Kim Hyok-chol, played a key role ahead of the Hanoi summitCredit:
YONHAP/ AFP

North Korea’s most recent ambassador to Spain, Kim Hyok-chol, played a key role ahead of the Hanoi summit, heading up the North Korea negotiating team that received a US delegation in Pyongyang in early February to discuss denuclearisation.

Kim Hyok-chol was expelled by the Spanish government in September 2017 in protest at North Korean nuclear tests, but he has not been replaced at the embassy, located in a quiet suburban area outside the Spanish capital.

Police were alerted to an incident at the mission when a woman, one of the eight members of embassy staff on duty at the time, began shouting in the street outside. Soon after officers arrived at the building, the 10 assailants sped away and ambulances were called to treat the staff for their injuries.

The attackers had bound the staff, placing bags over their heads and beating them as they searched for files. According to El País, the commercial attaché, the highest-ranking embassy official, was interrogated by one of the assailants in a separate room.

A court in Madrid is in charge of the investigation into the assault on the embassy but so far no arrests have been made.

The Telegraph has asked the US embassy in Spain to comment on the report.